German Election: Anti-AfD Protests Erupt In Berlin

Because the Social Democrats (SPD), her party's previous coalition partner, has pledged to become the official opposition party, the Chancellor will likely seek an alliance with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Green Party in order to maintain a governing majority in the parliament.

The unprecedented victory of the AfD and its presence in the German parliament will undoubtedly have important implications.

Josef Schuster, president of the German Central Council of Jews, said the party "tolerates far-right thoughts and agitates against minorities".

There's one other interesting observation to make regarding the German elections.

Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and early counting, showed Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and their Bavaria-only allies, the Christian Social Union, winning around 33 percent of the vote - down from 41.5 percent four years ago. Maybe the AfD is less Nazi than we might fear, and it has the usual complement of misfits and the confused: but there should be no room for complacency.

Schulz's SPD was down to 20.5 percent, but still managed to remain the second party after the conservatives. She said on Monday that "an anarchic party" can be successful in opposition but can't eye a place in government, before storming out of a press conference and leaving other party leaders momentarily speechless.

"We will hunt Frau Merkel ... and we will reclaim our country and our people", Alexander Gauland, an AfD leader, said after Sunday's result. Even so, all established parties say they will not partner with the AfD. Populist and nationalist parties in countries that have taken in far fewer refugees have garnered far greater support than the AfD.

Seehofer reacted this way due to the CSU failure in the last SundayÂ´s parliamentary elections. The far-right Alternative for Germany received 12.6% of the vote, making it the third largest party.

Petry was the most recognizable face in the AfD during its swift rise over the past two years.

As for the USA, most German experts we spoke to don't believe a different kind of government will change Merkel's relationship with President Trump. Many who find it unsatisfactory that our election should come down to a decision by an unpredictable small party are asking why National and Labour do not form a "grand coalition" here. That arrangement is unlikely to continue because, in order to undermine the SPD, Merkel's milquetoast Christian Democrats have moved to the left.

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